Tkip-hammer



UNITED STATES PATENT Ormea.

MILO IECK, OF NE\V HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

TRIP-HAMMER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 13,179, `dated July', 1855.`

To all whom t may concern Be it known that- I, MILo Pnoii, of the townand county of New Haven, inthe State of Connecticut, have invented a newand useful Improvement in Trip-'Hammers; and I: do hereby declare thatthe following'is a' full, clear, and exact description of theconstruction and operation of the same, refer# ence being had to theannexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figurel, is a'fperspective view of the trip l hammer complete. Fig. 2, is anoutline View of they same with aportionof the frame removed to show themachinery for raising and dropping the hammer. Fig. 3, is a sectionalview of the cylinder or air chamber in which the head of the hammershaft op-A eratesas a piston.` Fig. 4, shows the cylinder with airportthe slide valves being removed. Fig. 5, shows'the position and formof the inner slide valve. Fig. 6 shows the position and form of theouter slide valve. Fig. 7 shows the ratchet sweep, dog, and ratchetwheel. In all these drawings like parts are Adesignated by the sameletters,

Fig. l beingjust half the size of the other drawings.

The nature of my invention consists in so controlling the admission andexit of air above the piston, that the force of the' blow given by thehammer may be regulated by the condensation and attenuation of air.

To enable others skilled in the art to build and use my improved triphammer I will now particularly describe its construction and mode ofoperation.

The machinery by which the hammer is operated is placed in an iron frameA, sufficiently strong to prevent shaking or trembling. At the top ofthe frame in a line with the vertical rod or shaft B, of the hammer acylinder C, is cast in which the upper end of the hammer shaft workslike a piston back and forth. This is packed air tight; so that as thehammer `is raised the air in the cylinder is compressed. This pist0nshould be so regulatedv as not to approach within from to an inch of thecylinder head leaving always a cushion of air between the piston andcylinder head.

The valves by which the air in thecylinder is regulated and the force ofthe hammer controlled will be described hereafter.

I will now describe the machinery for raising` and dropping the hammer.The hammer shaft working atv thepistonendj in the cylinder is heldpreferably perpendicular by the guide boX'IV, as' shown in'Figs. l,andQ. A liftingpin'is/securely fastened tothe Ahammer' shaft as shown iat" and at the otherA end plays'up and down ina guide groove in the ironframe. This' lifting pin passes througha'slot in the connectingv rod E,which at-thev other end'is attached in the ordinary way to'the wrist o-fthe crank or sweep F. Thissweep F is firmly secured to the sweep'shaftGr so that at each revolution of the sweep shaft it willfbe seen thehammer is lifted and drops. The sweep shaft runs in the journals H, H:Cn'this are three sweeps or cranks, the lifting sweep F, the ratchetsweep I, andthevalve sweep .Tall fastened to it inthe positions shown.

The pulley K, and'the ratchet wheel L run loose upon the sweep shaft'and are "cor1- nected together by the hub M. The ratchet sweep I,carries the ratchet dog N, with'its spring O. The pulley K, the hub-Mand the ratchet wheel L running loose upon'the sweep shaft while theratchet sweep I" carrying the dog N, is fastened to it, it will be seenthat the dog cannot take hold of the teeth of the ratchet wheel at anytime eX- cep't when the hammer is down'and is to be lifted' or raisedagain. T-he'op'eration of this portion of the machine atleach-revolution is then as follows: As tliepu'lley'K is turned by itsband the dog N on the ratchet sweep I catches hold of the ratchet wheelL and carries the sweep shaft with t-he three sweeps half around and bymeans of the connecting rod E lifts the hammer to its greatest height;at that moment it passes the center, the dog runs loosely over theratchet teeth and the hammer drops to be raised again in the samemanner.

I will now describe the arrangement of t-he valves by which the force ofthe hammer is regulated. The position of the air port and valve boX withthe valves re-A moved is shown in Fig. 4. In Fig. 5, the position of theinner slide valve P, is shown as it is when the hammer has dropped andlies upon the anvil. This inner slide valve is connected with the leverR, as shown which is moved up and down at each revolution of the sweepsha-ft, by the valve sweep J, and the connecting rod S. As the hammerdrops carrying with it the sweep shaft the inner valve gate rises so asto touch with its lower edge the air port of the cylinder.

The outer slide valve T with its gate is shown in Fig. 6. lVhen thehammer is arranged so as to strike with its greatest force, the outervalve gate should approach the lower edge of the inner valve gateleaving but a slight opening not more than of an inch in a workinghammer, so that the instant the hammer begins to rise, the inner valveconnected with the sweep shaft as before shown begins to rise with it,the air is cut off, and as the hammer rises the air in the cylinder iscompressed between the piston and the cylinder head till the hammerfalls. These rollers are secured in their place by the plate V firmlyscrewed to the cylinder. This plate may have grooves cut in its undersurface as shown in Fig. 1 to allow air to pass freely to the outervalve or a slot may be cut through the plate for the same purpose.

The position of the outer valve it will be seen regulates the force ofthe blow, and this position is fixed by the hand of the workman upon thelever W. As the outer valve is ,raised the hammer rises farther beforethe air is cut off by the inner valve, which rises with it and of coursethere is less air in the cylinder to be compressed. And this can becarried so far as to prevent any blow at all and keep the hammervibrating over the anvil without touching it. For the outer valve gatemay be raised so high that the upper edge of the inner valve gate willcutoff the supply of air as soon as the hammer begins to fall, thustending to produce a vacuum and the farther the hammer falls the morecomplete the vacuum so that the hammer is arrested before it reaches.the anvil and can be made to strike an egg without breaking it.

In describing the construction and mode of operation of my invention Ido not mean to limit myself to the particular form herein set forth.This may be varied in many ways. For instance the inner valve instead ofbeing operated by the lever R in connection with the sweep J may beoperated by a valve rod attached to the sweep F and in some cases thismode of operation may be preferred. Again the lifting apparatus may beplaced above the air cylinder, or the air cylinder may be used inconnection with a horizontal trip hammer so arranged that as the hub ofthe hammer shaft is tripped down it is pressed against a piston in anair tight cylinder and thus driven back with all the force of compressedair. These and other mechanical equivalents will readily occur to anyone skilled in the art.

I am aware that hammers have been operated direct from a steam cylinderand that in Hughes hammer patented May 16 1854 the force of the blow isincreased by atmospheric pressure; the hammer as it is raised exhaustingan air chamber and tending to produce a vacuum, but these operate onprinciples entirely different from my own.

I do not claim the lifting apparatus herein described by itself; thishas already been secured to me by Letters Patent dated November 25,1851.

lVhat I do claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentis- So controlling the admission and eXit of air above the piston thatthe force of the blow given by the hammer may be regulated by thecondensation and attenuation of the air as herein set forth.

MILO PECK.

In presence of* W. T. BARTLETT, LUcrUs G. PECK.

